Monthly Archives: July 2009

You will note in these stats that one of these guys does not belong in the same class as the rest, despite his scoring frenzy in the first playoff series. Anyway, the question is, what have they done, and what have they done in the playoffs, proving they’re reliable and worth the money?

The Top 8 Playoff Performers, by far Outperforming the Rest

(Points against MTL obviously less impressive, given that my grandmother can score on Carey Price)

Michael Ryder 11 5 8 13
1 goal vs, Canes, and it was clearly due to a huge error by Tuomo Ruutu, who made a very bad cross-ice pass attempt. All that money, all that ability, but it’s hot one day and cold the next. Cut that — he fell asleep for the entire Canes series & wasn’t injured.I don’t understand this guy and I don’t want to. I’d trade him in a sec if anyone would have him. But on closer scrutiny of his stats, looking past numbers, how desirable is he to anyone, really?For that money?

Milan Lucic 10 3 6 9
3 goals & 3 assists vs. Canes, spread over 5 games, suspended 1 game. +/- Leader at +12. Outworked practically everyone, parted the seas, created opportunities, scared the hell out of his opponents and even scored. Priceless. Only issue is he could have been hitting a lot more versus the Canes. We needed that.

David Krejci 11 2 6 8
3 assists vs. Canes. No goals but injured: Hip surgery. No need to elaborate. he know what he can do. He will be our quiet ninja.Wideman 11 0 7 7
3 assists vs. Canes. Assists Looch, First Goal, Game 3; Assists Recchi, First Goal, Game 5.In the game that evened-up the series, he assists a momemtum-changing goal scored by savvy.
This guy is there when it counts and he’s Xtremely underappreciated.

Kobasew 11 3 3 6Played entire series with 2 broken ribs, broken in the opener. I can’t say enough about Chucky. Watching him in person is something else. He’s always coming out of nowhere with the puck. Incredible. Camera doesn’t always catch that. He might have to go but I won’t be surprised to see a special effort to keep him as Kessel goes…

Mark Recchi 11 3 3 6
3 goals + 2 assists in 4 games vs Canes. Had operation day/eve before Game 7. Injured but had visor removed to fight and defend Wardo’s honor. Where have you been all our lives? Glad we can afford you now that you’re 41 cause you’re still better than most of our young guys.

As you can see, it’s not really a shocker that the Bruins prioritized Krejci and signing Recchi was a no-brainer. Savvy must stay on and we’re lucky to have and afford Looch, for now. Great job on the scouting, Claude, when no one else would even look at Looch.

But Claude, baby, can you make this Ryder guy disappear?

As for the rest of you, I understand if you think Ryder can do good things. You might be more impressed than I am by the unreliable yet high numbers in the reg season (when it doesn’t count much) and in one of two playoff series. I’m open to opinions but it seems to me that unless you have a really good excuse, like 2 broken ribs, you can’t just take a bunch of days off during the most important series your team has seen since… since most of us can remember. .Bruins in HD